Feds poised to begin ID program for travelers and transportation workers WASHINGTON (AP) =97 Airports in Los Angeles and Philadelphia are proposed=20 test sites for transportation ID cards that could be issued to travelers,=20 allowing them to pass easily through security checks. Transportation=20 Security Administration chief James Loy said Tuesday that the cards also=20 would be tested at the ports of Long Beach, Calif., and Wilmington, Del.=20 Loy said transportation workers would first get the IDs at the ports and at= =20 Los Angeles International and Philadelphia International airports. If the=20 cards prove successful, they could be extended to passengers. "We want to=20 establish those prototypes almost immediately," Loy said, adding that the=20 proposed testing is awaiting congressional approval. Loy said the ID card=20 technology would form the basis for what he calls a "registered traveler=20 program." He recently told the Senate Commerce and Transportation Committee= =20 that people who register for the program would have to submit to detailed=20 background checks. "We will know more about them from a security standpoint than anonymous=20 passengers who present themselves to our screeners at the airport," he=20 said. The program would ease congestion at security checkpoints and reduce= =20 security hassles for registered travelers, he said. "This is great news for= =20 passengers," said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers=20 Association, a passenger advocacy group. "Anything that will speed=20 passengers through airport processing is something that's going to get=20 airline passengers back on the planes again." But Paul Hudson, executive director of the advocacy group Aviation Consumer= =20 Action Project, said Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the Sept. 11=20 hijackers, could have become a registered traveler. So could Timothy=20 McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, and Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber.=20 Hudson said he supports identification cards for transportation workers,=20 who number in the hundreds of thousands, but not travelers, who number in=20 the billions. "There's really no way to prevent smart terrorists from=20 getting these smart cards if it's opened up to the public," Hudson said.=20 "Identity theft and false IDs are a way of life for almost all smart=20 terrorists and criminals." Robert Johnson, TSA spokesman, said the ID cards= =20 would be used in conjunction with an improved passenger screening system=20 that would flag suspicious people before they get on a plane. The current=20 system, called CAPPS for Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System,=20 collects information about passengers' travel history from the airlines.=20 "We don't intend to willingly issue those kinds of cards to those kinds of= =20 people, ever," Johnson said. The program can't get under way until Congress= =20 gives the TSA the go-ahead, Johnson said. The Senate Appropriations=20 Committee has held up the program because of concerns that the TSA might=20 choose a technology for the card that's inefficient or too expensive, he=20 said. "We can begin almost immediately on a project like that once we=20 answer the concerns of Congress," Johnson said. Congress could approve the= =20 program by the end of the year. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (ReadyMix) http://www.readymix.co.tt/ (ReadyMix Cement Ltd) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************